BP is in a position to contemplate boosting dividends and acquiring with the oil giant in the best shape it has been in since the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill chief executive Bob Dudley has told Reuters.

With crude trading at around $80 per barrel, Mr Dudley told the agency BP will consider boosting returns to shareholders after it has reduced its debt pile.

The American executive said he expects to lead the company into 2020. Expansion is on the cards.

Oil and gas companies must help meet growing global demand for energy while reducing emissions.

“I am optimistic about the climate change if you can combine renewables wind and solar and natural gas,” said Mr Dudley. BP will invest around $500m a year in low carbon energy and technology in coming years out of a total of $15bn to $17bn. It will continue to develop conventional oil and gas projects and may invest in shale at the right price.

Regarding the challenges BP faced in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico spill, Mr Dudley said: “The worst moment was when I heard that our debt was untradable back in the summer of 2010... To me that was a moment of the unthinkable was possible.”

BP sold North Sea assets it deemed non core and axed around 600 jobs in the area amid the sharp fall in the crude price from 2014 to 2016.